Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginnin
by The Wanlorn
Summary: Possible swearing? I don't remember. This is set post-'Last Knight'. Nobody died. Nobody ever died.


**Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End**

(A/N:  I just just finished watching 'Last Knight'.  I don't think I have _ever_ cried this much over a TV show.  Here is my contribution to try and make everything all better…)

            "Damn you Nicholas," Lacroix hissed, raising the staff to drive it into his son's waiting back.  Before he could drive home the stake, something stopped him.  Faces began to flash through his mind - faces of those he'd loved and lost.  Divia's came first, then Fleur, then Janette (she wasn't speaking to him, either, and he had a feeling it was finally the end for them), Divia's face came again.  He would not add Nicholas' face to the list.  He would prefer that his son hate him for all eternity because he couldn't comply with his wishes that know that Nicholas had died by his hand.

            He hurled the staff across the room with all his strength.  He then tore Nicholas to his feet.  "Get up you sniveling fool.  She still lives, and if you want to save the Good Doctor's life, get her to a hospital."  She had a surprisingly tenacious grasp on life.  "Move!"

            It took a moment for Lacroix's words to penetrate Nick's guilt-ridden mind.  He had killed her.  He hadn't been able to stop, and he had killed his darling Natalie.  But then, he realized her heart was still beating.  Faintly and struggling, but it was still beating.  There was no time for the Caddy.  Nick scooped his dying love up in his arms and flew through the skylight, shielding Natalie's body with his own.

            Lacroix sighed and shook his head.  Nicholas would never learn.  He supposed he should go back to the Raven and unpack.  What he had told Nicholas was a lie - he would not leave Toronto without his son.  Not with the Good Doctor's life - and his son's sanity - hanging in the balance.

~~~~{@

            Meanwhile, down by a certain lake…

            "Come one!  Just do it!"  A stocky girl, the speaker, punched the lithe man standing next to her in the arm.

            "Are you sure, M'ija?"  He ran a hand through his shoulder-length blonde hair.

            "_Yes_!  He has people - or, at least, _a_ person - he needs to save.  Do it!"

            The man looked down at the hole at his feet.  At the bottom lay the body of a Spanish man, a stake implanted a little below his heart.  He sighed, knowing he could never win this argument, and pulled out the Spaniard, laying him on the ground next to the hole.

            "Are you _positive_, M'ija?"

            "Hurry you ass!  He's a good guy.  Trust me!"

            The man yanked the stake out of the Spaniard's chest.  The Spaniard's eyes, red-tinged, immediately flew open, falling on the girl.  The man - now quite obviously a vampire, restrained the Spaniard quickly and shoved his bleeding wrist in fronts of the other's face.  As the Spaniard latched on and began to suck the life-giving blood, the blonde vampire groaned in pain.  He immediately knew the Spaniard to be Vachon, and there was goodness left in his heart.

            "Enough!"  The man jerked his arm away as Vachon's eyes began to return to gold.

            "Listen to me," the girl said, "and listen closely.  Tracy's been shot.  I don't know if she's dead yet, but she's definitely dying.  She's at the hospital.  Go save her, hurry."

            Vachon didn't ask any questions, merely took off to go save his best friend, the one he loved.  The man turned to the girl

            "Happy, Little One?"

            "Vary."  She smiled contentedly and drew his head down for a kiss.  "Thank you, love."  She motioned, both of them disappearing into thin air.

~~~~{@

            Vachon raced to the hospital, only a little curious about who the people were, how he was still alive, or how they knew Tracy was hurt.  The vampire who had saved him somehow knew how to keep his memories from his blood.  He whammied the woman at the desk into telling him what room Tracy was in, then ran up there as fast as he could without drawing undue attention to himself.  When he got there, they were wheeling Tracy away, covered head to toe in a sheet.  Her heart wasn't beating - she was dead.

            No!  He would not allow this!  Maybe she was still somehow clinging; her soul was still in her body.  Vachon managed to finagle himself so he could catch all of the orderlies' gazes at once.

            "Leave her body here.  You will go on with your duties, remembering only that you dropped the body off where you were supposed to."

            "…dropped body off…"

            "Go now."

            Vachon quickly pushed Tracy into the closest empty room.  He drained her as quickly as he could.  It was hard work because her heart was not beating to pump the blood out to his mouth.  He did not know if this would work.  He had never tried bringing someone back after they were dead.  In fact, he didn't even know if it could be done, period.  But he _had_ to try.

            He cut his own wrist with his fangs, and held it over her mouth.

            "Please, Trace.  Please come back to me.  Please don't leave me.  I love you…"

~~~~{@

            Tracy was standing on a green field.  Vaguely, she knew she was dead.  Hell, she could see the door and the light.  If she went through, she knew she would be in Heaven.  It was tempting, but…

            But she wasn't ready to die yet.  She wasn't ready to leave her friends, her family, her job, and her _life_.  She loitered on the field, hoping Nick would bring her across.  He was a vampire (_why_ hadn't he told her?), and yet, she _knew_ he was going to Heaven.  She couldn't feel the evil she could around Vachon, leading her to think maybe it was just a preconceived notion.  Perhaps she could find redemption, too, if she was brought across.  All she wanted was a couple more years…

            She knew she was dead - she could still hear the doctors talking.  Now, she was just being stubborn.  She knew she would have to go through the door _sometime_ now, but she would hang out here for a while to spite…to spite _someone_.

            Tracy half-listened to the voices from the world of the living that she could still hear.  Now, she drifted through her own memories.  She was surprised to say that the happiest times of her life were when she was with Vachon.  She could almost hear his voice talking to her again.  She missed him so much.  It only made it worse to know she had killed him.  Lacroix had made her forget for a time, but it had all come back to her.  It was bad enough when she thought he had left…  She had loved him, ands he had killed him.  That was funny - it almost sounded like the Vachon in her memory was begging her not to die on him, telling her that he loved her…

            He was trying to bring her across.  How as he alive?  She had driven a stake through his chest.  Well, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak.

~~~~{@

Vachon couldn't have been more relieved when he felt Tracy begin to weakly suck on his wrist.  He had been given a second chance, as had she.  Vachon stroked her hair and whispered words of love in her ear as she drank from him.  Now, of course, came the almost impossible task of whammying everyone who knew she was dead, and finding blood for her First Hunger…

~~~~{@

            Nick sat by Natalie's bed, rubbing his hands together.  The doctors had immediately started putting as much O- blood into her as they could.  He had said that she'd just collapsed, and whammied them to make everything okay.  But would she even want to see him, talk to him, when she woke up?  He had _promised_ he wouldn't take to much, but…

            She he sat, rubbed his hands together, and hung his head.  Various people stopped by to say they hoped Dr. Lambert got better.  However, they did not say a word about Tracy.  Nick didn't particular notice that little fact, too deep in his misery.

            Whenever the bag of plasma emptied, a nurse would come in and replace it.  It became a steady rhythm, and pretty soon, they didn't notice Nick anymore.  He was like just another chair.  He pulled the shades when the sun began to rise and allowed himself to retreat into the feelings he had gotten from her blood.  He basked in the glow of her unconditional love, something no one had ever felt for him before.  Would she still love him after what she had seen, what he had done?

            Nick watched with bated breath as Natalie showed signs of waking.  Would she hate him?  Would her feelings remain unchanged?  Would they change in some other, unforeseen way?  He chewed on his lower lip with worried eyes as Natalie's eyes flickered open and blinked a couple times.  She turned her head until she could look him in the eyes…

            …and she smiled.  "I told you that you wouldn't kill me."

            Nick felt the blood tears welling in his eyes as he pulled the chair closer.  He took her hand in his and began rubbing it with his thumb, bringing it up to his mouth to kiss it repeatedly.

            "I'm sorry.  I'm so, so sorry.  I didn't…"

            "Hush, Nick."  He looked so miserable, she decided to save her angry words for later.  "It's okay.  I know; I understand."

            He blinked back his tears.  What did he ever do to deserve someone like her?  He brought her hand to his lips once more, kissing her fingers.

            "If you could stop doing that long enough to un-tape my arm from this stupid board, it would be greatly appreciated."  She smiled sweetly at him.

            Nick quickly reached across the bed and sliced the tape that held her arm down so she couldn't move it and dislodge the IV with a sharp fingernail.  Natalie stared at the needle in her arm for a moment.  She did not like IVs any more than she did hospitals.  When she met Nick's eyes again, her face was very serious.

            "Are you going to leave now?  Go with Lacroix to…wherever?"  She knew that was a very real possibility, that his guilt would not let him stay.

            Nick had actually considered that, and probably would have done so, had he not been able to know her true feelings from the blood he had taken.  She had been dead serious about everything she had told him that night.  She could not go on as they were, hung in stasis between being 'just friends' and being lovers.  She wasn't contemplating suicide actively; she had merely resigned herself to the fact that if things didn't change, or if he left, that would eventually come.  She had put her work before he life, and now she thought she was too old, too chunky, and too ugly to try and begin one.  Her attempt to force him into a decision had been a cry for help, one he had almost ignored.

            "No, I won't," he said, when another thought struck him.  "Not unless you want me to."  He hadn't realized until now that that was a possibility.

            Natalie let the relief shine on her face for a brief moment.  "No, I don't.  I don't ever want you to leave."

~~~~{@

            Vachon sat in a chair, watching Tracy sleep on his couch.  It was almost sunset again, almost time for her to awake.  She hadn't cleaned anything out of his church yet, waiting a little while before taking mementos, so everything was still as it was before he had died.  Which led him to the perplexing question of who had brought him back and why?  He knew he should be very dead.  Tracy had left the stake in him, to make sure he wouldn't come back.  The blonde vampire knew the art of keeping images from the blood, so Vachon knew nothing from him.

            That led to another thought.  Divia's memories had been driving him literally insane.  Why weren't they doing so now?  They were still there, but it was as if something had toned them down.  They were semi-blurry now, and the feelings were gone.  Only dormant pictures remained.

            Vachon took a swig of the bottle of blood in his hand.  He had stopped at the Raven and gotten enough for two fledglings.  He was still starving.  It was a miracle that he hadn't taken too much from Tracy.  He had set everything right at the hospital - luckily, there were no resistors.  All they remembered was that her wounds hadn't been as severe as they'd thought, and that they'd sent her home.  Someone was calling her family and the precinct to say that they had been misinformed.

            Vachon could sense Tracy awakening.  He gathered up a couple bottles and went to kneel beside the couch.  In one swift motion, Tracy's eyes opened, glowing red, and she sat u.  Vachon immediately shoved an open bottle into her hand.

            "Drink," he commanded.  The bottle was drained in seconds, and he kept handing them to her until her eyes had gone golden.  He handed her one more, which she drained slowly, eyes on him.  When she was done, they went back to their normal blue, and her fangs receded.

            "Trace-" he started.  He knew from her blood that, at the time, she hadn't wanted to die, that she would do almost anything to live.  But that didn't mean she didn't have second thoughts now.

            Tracy was reveling in her new senses.  The blood slid down her throat so smooth, so sweet.  She knew that this was completely against her Christian upbringing, that she should be mortified at what she was doing, but right now it felt so _right_.

            She focused on Vachon's voice.  "-are you having second thoughts?"  She could feel how worried he was that she was, and that she would hate him for brining her across.

            Tracy smiled at him.  Vachon was alive!  "No, none at all."  A sudden thought crossed her mind.  "Please tell me I didn't bury you alive, Vachon.  But I-"

            "Hush, Trace."  He could feel her becoming upset, and he quickly sat down next to her and took her in his arms.  "It's okay, you didn't.  I don't know how I'm back, but I ma.  Someone dug me up, brought me back, and dispelled the poison."

            Tracy loved the feeling of him running his hands through her hair, stroking it to calm her.  When he had told her, once upon a time, that every sense was heightened, he meant _every_ sense.  Even that of touch.  He was alive, alive, alive!  She hadn't killed him!  Which reminded her…

            "How could you _do_ that to me!"  She shoved away, slightly amazed by her own strength.  "DO you _know_ what it feels like to kill your best friend and not be able to talk to anyone?!  Do you have _any_ idea?!"

            Vachon watched with sad eyes as she backed away from him, red tears pouring down her cheeks.  When she stopped, he stood up and slowly moved towards her.  "Trace.  You were the only one I could trust to do it.  You were the only one who I knew would send me on my way with a prayer.  You were the only friend I had left…" He reached out and pulled her into a tight embrace, letting her cry blood tears on his shoulder.

~~~~{@

            Lacroix sat in the back room of the Rave, a goblet of bloodwine in his hand.  He took a long, slow sip, paying attention to the feeling she was getting from his favorite.  So, the Good Doctor would live, and she had already forgiven Nicholas.  Apparently, he would be staying in Toronto for a while.

            Conflicting emotions tugged at Lacroix for the first time in centuries.  He did not want Nicholas to continue his search for mortality - that much was a given.  He would not add his son's name to the list of those lost to him, and deep down, he was terrified of being alone again.

            Lacroix knew that Nicholas was a wee bit unbalanced.  After watching him last night, Lacroix knew that the death of the Good Doctor would cause Nicholas to take that final step over the edge and into the abyss of madness.  Lacroix knew that he could not longer use the Good Doctor as a pawn in his battle with Nicholas.  Perhaps now he should try to make nice…

~~~~{@

            Natalie had fallen asleep again, still exhausted from the loss of blood.  But, even though she was asleep, she had a death grip on his hand.  Through the tiny link that they had, Nick knew that she was still terrified that he was going to pick up and leave while she slept, and disappear into forever.

            The doctors decided they wanted a pint or two of glucose in her, so they had switched the pints of blood to glucose.  Nick couldn't have been gladder.  He was getting hungry, even though he had feasted on her blood last night, more blood than he had fed on in one night for a long time.  Blood tears began to drop from Nick's eyes again.  He had almost lost her, lost her to his own stupidity.  How could she still trust him?  Still lie there, sound asleep, with a death grip on his hand?

            Nick reached out a hand to brush a stray wisp of hair off Natalie's face, and heard the rush of air behind him that meant a vampire had landed - and it was a mere fifteen minutes to dawn.  As he figured, Lacroix was at the door, holding two of Nick's green bottled.

            "You do not seem to be planning on returning to your home, Nicholas.  Here is the will you drink for when you wake up."  Lacroix handed the bottles to Nick.  "I do hope the Good Doctor gets well again."  He was gone in a whoosh of air.

            Nick shook his head in bemusement.  He put the bottles in the inside pockets of his trench coat with one hand.  He could not think of feeding right now, although he was undeniably hungry.  He did not want that reminder of what he was.  Oh, how he loathed himself!  

            He had explained to the staff that they couldn't open the window shades because of his allergy.  They were understanding of the devoted blonde hunk, especially the younger women.  So he did not have to let go of her hand to deal with the shades as he felt the sun rise, and he could drop off into blesséd sleep - the most powerful narcotic on earth.

            Natalie woke up again.  Ugh, she was still in the stupid hospital.  Nick was sleeping in the chair beside her - he hadn't moved since the last time she had been awake.  She tried to stay quiet, so she could watch him sleep.  Nick was never more beautiful than when he was asleep.  The years seemed to melt away from him, leaving a peaceful, innocent little boy behind.

            Now that he wasn't awake, she could think, ask the questions to herself that had been running through her mind. She had pushed him, she knew.  He had been afraid of hurting her, ands he hadn't listened.  The whole thing was, really, her fault.  The question was, did he love her?  Once she was out of the hospital, would he love her?  He had been willing to bring Tracy across without a thought, but wouldn't even consider bringing her across.  And he had promised they would be together forever…

            "A penny for you thoughts."  Nick's voice jolted her out of her musings.  She hadn't even noticed him wake up.

            Nick brought her hand up so he could hold it in both of his, caress it with his hands.  "What are you thinking that puts that look in your eyes, Nat?"

            His eyes compelled her to answer, not through hypnotism, but through the concerned look in their soulful depths.  "Why?  Why was it so easy to consider bringing Tracy across, but you wouldn't even think about it for me?  Why, when you _knew_ I was dying, didn't you try to bring me across?  I could hear _everything_ you and Lacroix were saying.  After you tell _me_ not to talk 'like that', you ask Lacroix to kill you for you?  You have got some explaining to do."

            Nick's voice cracked as he talked, and he had to stop several times.  Now all the cards were being laid out on the table.  The coin was spinning in the air.  Would it land on heads, or tails?  "Because I didn't love Tracy.  She was my partner, my close friend, someone whom I didn't want to die because of me.  And after I had taken too much…I couldn't - _can't_ condemn you to this darkness that I live in, never to seethe light of the sun again."

            Natalie freed her hand from Nick's grasp and reached up to caress his face.  "But I'm not _in_ darkness when you're with me."

            Nick smiled quickly, covering her hand with his own.  "And how long would that last?  A year or two?  A couple weeks?  A couple _days_?"

            "No, forever.  You told me that when you take someone's blood, you know them, their life, and their emotions.  What do you feel from me?"

            Nick slightly regretted telling her that.  Yes, he knew that she felt, and he knew that she would quite literally stay by his side forever.  She was his soul mate, and they would love each other forever, but he wanted to make her _see_…

            Natalie sat up and picked up the glass of water beside her, taking a long sip.  When she put it down, she cocked her head at him.  They could continue this later if they had to.  "Okay, never mind.  Do you have any idea of when they're going t let me out of here?"

            Nick shook his head.  "Sorry, Nat.  For everything."

            Natalie placed a finger over his lips.  "Hush.  Stop apologizing for now - wait until I've got this IV out of my hand and I'm home."

            Nick turned away in shame as his eyes began to turn golden.  He was hungry and supposed he should go somewhere to geed, but…

            Natalie gently turned Nick's head back to face her.  "Nick, look at me.  You are who you are, you are what you are.  Don't be ashamed of that.  When was the last time you ate?"  Nick cast his eyes down.  "Then go eat.  There's got to b some sort of blood bank somewhere in here."

            "Thank you, Natalie."  He marveled at her understanding, and exited the room with his trench coat.  Natalie could hear the bottle clinking inside.

~~~~{@

            The doctors agreed to let Natalie go home the next night.  When Natalie woke up, Nick wasn't sitting by her bed.  She wasn't worried, though.  Somehow, she knew he was in the building.  Interested but this new development, she pushed into the feeling, and was surrounded by a warm glow.  She smiled.

            Nick felt Natalie push into their faint connection, as he spoke with the doctors, and opened up the link.  He couldn't feel much; just that she was in the building and safe.  He felt her love surrounding him in a warm cocoon and was amazed.  He didn't know if he knew she was letting him feel that, but that didn't matter.  How _could_ she?  How could she feel that way, after what he had done?

            Natalie basked in the glow of Nick's love for a moment, then when she felt/sensed him begin to move, she drew back.  As Nick entered, she smiled slightly at him.

            "What was that?" she asked.

            "A side effect of-" He looked away, ashamed.

            "Of drinking my blood," Natalie supplied for him, sitting up.

            "Yeah," Nick said quietly.  "It's just a slight link.  It should fade in a few days."  Nick's head was turned away, she he did not catch the flicker of sadness that passed over Natalie's face as she got out of the bed.

            "Nick."  She came to stand in front of him and he painfully turned his face to her.  She could see the tears in his eyes.  "Hey, you can't put all the blame on yourself.  I kept on pushing you, even though you kept on telling me and telling me you were going to end up hurting me."  She reached up to touch the scratchy side of his face.

            Nick leaned slightly into her caress.  Oh how wrong she was.  "I can go right now to the loft and get the Caddy to drive you home."

            Natalie respected his need to change the subject.  "Sure.  Can't wait to get out of here."  She smiled and stepped back, sitting down on the edge of her hospital bed.  Nick had managed to get her a private room, something she was grateful for.

            She twiddled her thumbs and got dressed, waiting for Nick to come back.  She considered pushing into the link, but opted against it.  That seemed too much like invasion of privacy - privacy Nick held dear - to her.

            Nick stood quietly in the doorway for a while, watching his Natalie.  He finally cleared his throat.  "Ready to go, Nat?"

            Down in the Caddy, Natalie turned to Nick from the passenger side.  "Can we stop at the loft, first?  Just for five seconds?"

            Nick threw a surprised glance her way as he nodded.  "Of course.  But…why?"

            "Never mind," Natalie said quietly.  But Nick somehow, without meaning to, caught a flash of why.  She wanted to be sure he really was staying, that everything was still in the loft, not packed up.  He immediately felt guilty, and hurt, that she couldn't trust his word.

            Still, Nick didn't take the turn to her apartment, but continued on to the loft.  As he parked, he realized that he should have just taken her back to her apartment.  He hadn't unpacked the bags that he had gotten ready before Natalie had shown up.  Oh well, too late now.  Natalie stood silently next to him in the lift.  When it stopped, he opened to door for her, letting it roll shut behind him.  Natalie's eyes were fixed on the bags by his couch, a hurt and betrayed look on her face.  Nick wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on the top of his head.

            "I haven't had the time to unpack yet."  He could feel her, stiff and trembling, in his arms.

            "And is that the truth or something you're just saying to make me feel better?" she asked dully.

            "The truth, of course!  Do you want to watch me unpack everything?"

            "No."  Natalie turned around in his arms so that her cheek rested on his chest, and her arms went around his back.  "I'm sorry.  I shouldn't jump to conclusions like that."

            "You have every right to jump to conclusions," he told her, mentally kicking himself.  They stood there for the longest while, holding each other.  Nick's doorbell buzzed, and he reluctantly let go of Natalie to check the monitor.

            "Nat," he said in a shaky voice, "come over here and tell me if I'm seeing things.  _Please_."

            Natalie, wondering what could make him so shaken, quickly went to stand next to him.  She, too, stared in disbelief.  "My eyes tell me that's Tracy and Vachon, but…"

            The bell rang again, and Nick could hear them talking.

            "I know he's up there," Tracy said.

            "You know, maybe I should just wait out here," Vachon told her, looking around nervously.

            "Why?"

            "Nick's going to be _furious_ with me.  And you've never seen him when he's really angry."

            Nick pressed the intercom button before they could say any more.  "Come on up.  _Both_ of you," he added as he buzzed them in.

            Natalie looked at him with wide eyes.  "They can't be here.  They're _dead_, both of them. Nick…"

            Nick enfolded her in his arms for a moment.  "Hush, Nat.  We'll figure this out."  Nick kissed the top of her head and let her go, as the lift door opened.

            Tracy and Vachon stepped out, the latter looking extremely nervous.  Nick could tell as soon as the buzzer had rang that both were undead, very much so.

            "One of you had better start talking," Nick said.  He wouldn't be glad that his partner was mobile until he knew for sure it really was his partner.

            Vachon opened his mouth, but Tracy beat him to the punch.  "Well, I don't see why we should.  If I recall correctly, certain people in this room weren't all that talkative.  In fact, I don't think I ever once heard a, 'Oh yeah, and Tracy, I'm a vampire, so if I get shot in the stomach a coupe times, don't worry - I'll be okay.'  You know, it would have been _really_ nice if you had trusted me."

            "Tracy," Vachon said quietly.  She glanced back at him, took in the fear she could feel from him, and shut up.

            Nick looked at the two with grief-filled eyes, as Natalie quietly looked on.  "Yes, you're right.  I should have told you.  I had no right to keep a secret like that from you.  But at the time, it was keeping you safer.  The less you knew about he Community, the better."  He paused, then continued.  "But the two of you were both _very_ dead.  What happened?"

            Tracy backed up into Vachon's arms, so the Spaniard was looking at Nick over the top of her head.  It was he who answered.  "I honestly don't know.  Last thing I remember is making Trace stake me."  She shuddered in his arms.  "Then, I woke up by the lake with two people standing beside me - a mortal girl and a blonde vampire - and the poison was gone.  They were telling me Trace was dying.  I couldn't let her die any more than you could let Dr. Lambert die."  Vachon's soulful eyes begged Nick to understand.  "I _had_ to bring her across."

            Nick understood.

~~~~{@

            Nick watched Natalie as she slept on his couch.  She hadn't really wanted to go home, but had wanted to be near him.  She continued to amaze him with her choices.  Tracy and Vachon had left just before sunrise.  Nick had offered to give Natalie the keys to the Caddy so she could drive home, but she had told him that she would rather stay with him.  Nick reached out to gently brush an errant strand of hair from her face.

            "Love you, Nick," Natalie murmured in her sleep.

            "I love you too, Nat, now and forever," he replied, safe in responding because she was asleep.

            Unfortunately for him, her eyes popped open.  "What?"

            "I-I love you," he stammered, captured by her fierce gaze.

            A beautiful smile spread across Natalie's face as tears filled her eyes ands he sat up.  She captured his hands and pulled him close, so his knees were against hers.  "You should say that more often, you know."

            The joy suffusing her face warmed Nick's cold heart.  "Whatever you want, my love."

            Natalie reached up and pulled his head down unto he had to put a hand on the back of the couch to keep his balance.  Her lips brushed against his, tentatively at first, then with more force as she felt him respond.  Nick finally had to back away when he felt himself losing control.  Natalie let him go, understanding.  She finally understood how hard it was for him to be near her every day and maintain his control, when he wanted her so much.  Never would she push him again, knowing from the taking of her blood the daily torture he went through.

            Nick's head snapped to the kitchen and he growled deep in his throat.  Natalie looked to where he was looking and gasped.  Two people were standing there, a man and a teenage girl.  The man was bronze-skinned but pale, like all the color had been washed out of him, and had shoulder-length straight blonde hair.  The girl was on the fat side of chunky with wavy blonde hair falling to just below her shoulders.  Natalie could see the light glinting off coppery highlights in her hair.

            As Nick moved in front of Natalie to protect her in case of a threat, the girl held up her hands.  "Before you totally freak out because two complete strangers suddenly appeared in your house - and this is a nifty place to live - hear me out."

            "Who are you?" Nick interrupted, watching them closely.

            "Who we are is not important."

            The man grinned at her.  "You've been waiting to say that for a long time, haven't you, M'ija?"

            "Longer than you can imagine.  Now zip it.  I guess you could call us guardian angels," she said, shrugging.  "That's the closest I can come t explaining what we are."

            "You can't be guardian angels because you're mortal," Nick's eyes switched to meet the man's, "and you're a vampire.

            "Hey.  I'm just trying to put it into terms you'd accept.  Guardian angels make much more sense than a bored girl who's out to fuck-" the man bopped her on the head "excuse me, _screw_ with fate to piss of the gods and her keeper, do they not?

            "Just listen.  I've got a whole bunch more lives to mess with.  And if you don't believe we're benevolent forces, go ask Vachon what the people who saved _his_ ass looked like.

            "Anywho, ya know the problem you got with control?  Well, it's 'cause you're an idiot."  The vampire next to her whapped her upside the head again, ands he turned to him with incredulous eyes.  "What the hell was that one for?!  I didn't lie _or_ swear!"

            "Remember the one you added last night?  Tact?"

            "I take it back!  No more hitting!"

            The vampire smiled smugly.  "You also told me not to let you take them back."

            The girl shook her head, a slight smile on her face.  "Anywho, my apologies for my lack of _tact_ and what I should have said in a more _tactful_ way was…" She trailed off to think.

            Natalie tried to open the link between her and Nick, tot ell him she was pretty sure they weren't a threat, and to get his opinion.  Nick felt her attempts and opened up to her.  He agreed with her assessment, remembering what Vachon had said the people looked like.  But he could never be too careful with Natalie's life.

            "Did you ever once consider telling her how she's been basically starving you by making you drink cow's blood?" the girl suddenly said.  "And the giant difference between animal blood and human blood?  That that's why you couldn't stop?"

            Natalie glanced at Nick and saw the truth of the statement written on his face.  "How do you know that?" she asked.

            "What?  That he couldn't stop?  I just do.  How do I know of vampire physiology and stuff?  Because I have a vampire buddy who will answer anything I ask truthfully and won't evade questions.  I've given my message.  If you ever want to be able to make love without danger, start drinking human blood again.  Remember, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.  Let us go, my friend."  She and the man disappeared with a loud crack.

            Natalie looked at Nick, who was still tense.  "So, I've been starving you for all these years?  Start talking, if what the girl said is true."

            "You have no interest at all in finding out how they got in here?  And how they left like that?  And if they could get in again?"

            "NO right now."  Natalie stood up and put her arms around him.  "I think guardian angels is an apt description.  They're why Tracy's still alive."

            "She's not alive, she's undead."  Nick silenced what Natalie was about to say.  "About the starving, I don't know.  Am I hungrier all the time and wreaker?  Yes, and that would explain the backsliding.  But that's why I took too much and couldn't stop.  Animal blood is dull and emotionless.  But, human blood…"  Nick looked away.  She would be disgusted by his description.

            Natalie put a hand on each of his cheeks and turned his head so he was looking her in the eye.  "Tell me.  I want to know."  She knew from when he took her blood, but it was like his love.  It wasn't really real to her until she heard it from his mouth.

            "Human blood is full of life, of emotion.  It's sweet like honey, and the more you know the person, the more you care for them, the sweeter it is.  And after being deprived for so long…" He hung his head, his hair flopping over his eyes.

             Natalie smoothed back his hair.  "Then stop drinking the steer blood, forget everything I've told you.  Start drinking human blood again.  The blood obviously isn't the key, as hard as that is to admit."  Natalie drew his head down to kiss him.  When his eyes turned golden, she let him pull away slightly, but wouldn't let him turn away.  "In a month or two of you on human blood, let's try again."  She kissed the palm of his hand.  "And if you can't stop again, _bring me across_.  I need more time than I have to find a cure, anyway."  She searched his blue-again eyes for agreement and understanding.

            Nick smiled.  "All right."  He bent down to gently, quickly kiss her lips.  She really, honestly did want to be brought across at some point.  Right now, they were facing a new beginning, and that point in the future when he brought her across would be this beginning's end.

*Fin*

(A/N:  All my 'Forever Knight' stories seem to need endnotes!  What it with that?  Anywho, the first half of this was written the day of 'Last Knight'.  The last half was written this morning in three-hour marathon of computer solitaire and writing, directly after my marathon of the same, except I was finishing up 'Where Angels Fear to Tread'.  Which places the time now at 3am.  So if this half isn't as good as the first half, tell me, or if this half is better, tell me.  I need to know when I write best!  And now that this one's done, I think I've finally gotten it so I'm down to having only one FK story going.  Thanks for reading and reviewing, and I hope you enjoyed!)


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